Department for Education

History: Curriculum

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that pre-colonial world history is given greater emphasis in the national curriculum; and what steps they have taken to ensure that European colonialism and its consequences are given greater emphasis in the national curriculum.

Lord Nash: The requirements for the mandatory history curriculum, taught in maintained schools in England from September 2014, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-history-programmes-of-study Pupils should be taught about world as well as British history. At key stage 2 for example, pupils should be taught a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – one study chosen from: early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad c. AD 900; Mayan civilization c. AD 900; Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300. The new curriculum is less prescriptive than before, which gives teachers more freedom over the precise content that should be taught, including pre-colonial world history or European colonialism and its consequences.

Ministry of Justice

Television: Licensing

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people received custodial sentences in the last 10 years, broken down by gender, for the non-payment of fines relating to television licences; for how many of those people this was their sole offence; and how long the average sentence was.

Lord Faulks: Offenders found guilty of TV licence evasion may be sentenced to a fine and there is an expectation that fines are paid immediately where possible. HM Courts and Tribunals Service takes the issue of fine enforcement very seriously and is working to ensure that the recovery of fines is a continued priority nationwide. Failure to pay a fine imposed for TV licence evasion can lead to committal to prison for fine default, but only as a last resort once all other methods of recovering the money have been considered or tried and have failed. Information about the length of time for which men and women were committed to prison for failing to pay a fine imposed for non-payment of a TV licence, since 2005, is provided in the table. The data relates to the fine defaulter's principal offence: information about whether it was their sole offence is not collected.  Fine defaulter receptions for non-payment of a TV licence, by sex and average sentence length, England and Wales, January 2005- September 2014200520062007200820092010(1)201120122013Jan-Sep 2014   Fine defaulter receptions for non-payment of a TV licence Males2121171911..10251510   Females83101619..38261724 Average sentence length in daysMales1414112017..20192519   Females176171617..24252318   Data Sources and Quality These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.  (1) During 2010 there was a disruption to the supply of the prison receptions data which is used for the purpose of statistical reporting.

Television: Licensing

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance is given to the courts on sentencing for non-payment of fines in relation to failure to pay for television licences.

Lord Faulks: The courts are provided with guidance on sentencing and other ways of dealing with offenders, such as fine enforcement, by sentencing guidelines. These are issued by the Sentencing Council, which is independent of Government. The enforcement of fines imposed for the offence of TV licence evasion, which is non-imprisonable, is dealt with by the magistrates’ courts. The Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines can be found at the link: http://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/MCSG_web_-_October_2014.pdf  Pages 156 to 159 of the guidelines provide guidance to the courts on the enforcement of fines. This applies to all fines enforced by the magistrates’ courts: there is no specific guidance on dealing with offenders who have failed to pay a fine imposed for the offence of TV licence evasion. The courts are required by law to follow any relevant sentencing guidelines unless it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.

Home Office

Police: Road Traffic Control

Baroness Smith of Basildon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many traffic police (as full-time equivalent) have been employed in Essex in each year from 2010 to date.

Lord Bates: The table provided shows the number and proportion of full-time equivalent police officers within the traffic function for Essex police force, as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2014.The variation in the figures between 2013 and 2014 is due to a review of the functionality of roles within the force as part of their Change Programme.Number of and proportion of full-time equivalent1 police officers within the traffic function2, 3 in Essex police force, as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2014.4NumberProportion of total police officers (%) 2010201120122013201420102011201220132014Essex5257227229217767.16.36.76.62.4 1. This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been presented to the nearest whole number.2. Traffic function includes staff who are predominantly employed on motor-cycles or in patrol vehicles for the policing of traffic and motorway related duties. This includes officers employed in accident investigation, vehicle examination, radar duties and those working with hazardous chemicals.3. Staff with multiple responsibilities (or designations) are recorded under their primary role or function. This may explain some variability between years.4. Figures have been confirmed by all police forces after collection and before publication each year.5. The variation in Essex Police’s figures between 2013 and 2014 is due to a review of the functionality of roles within the force as part of their Change Programme. 



Full time equivalent police officers
(Excel SpreadSheet, 11.12 KB)

HM Treasury

Wines: Exports

Baroness Byford: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the total value of United Kingdom wine exported in each of the last five years.

Lord Deighton: HM Revenue & Customs is responsible for the collection of data on UK imports and exports. From the collected trade data however, we cannot identify exports of UK produced wine.   The total value of all wine exported from the UK (exports of UK produced wine and exports of wine produced elsewhere) in each of the last five years is: YearValue (£) 2010426,546,147 2011542,538,414 2012443,696,522 2013445,606,225 2014452,566,271 Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics Note:1) 2014 data is subject to update2) Data is for wine, including fortified wine (HS2204 excluding HS2204 30)3) Trade is presented on a General Trade basis4) EU Trade includes Below Threshold Trade Allocations (BTTAs)

British Overseas Territories

Lord Luce: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that United Kingdom Overseas Territories are maintaining adequate regulatory mechanisms for offshore financial services and the common reporting standards for automatic exchange of information across borders as required by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; and whether they will provide a comparison on the extent to which each United Kingdom Overseas Territory conforms with the required standards.

Lord Deighton: The Overseas Territories are separate jurisdictions and each has their own independent supervisory authority responsible for ensuring their financial services meet regulatory standards. The Overseas Territories are subject to assessment by the international standard setter for anti-money laundering, the Financial Action Task Force. This looks specifically at the effectiveness of each jurisdiction’s regimes. The Territories are due their next assessments over the coming years and the results of these will be publicly available.  In 2013, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories agreed to begin bilateral automatic exchange of financial information for tax purposes with the UK ‎in 2016, in respect of 2014 data. These were ground breaking agreements and are expected to recoup over £1 billion of unpaid tax.   The Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories also committed in 2013 to be early adopters of the new global standard for automatic exchange, joining the initiative launched by the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain and providing a lead to other jurisdictions. Along with the UK, in October 2014 the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories signed the legal agreements under which exchange will begin with over 50 countries in 2017 and over 90 countries in 2018. These agreements, under which a wide range of information concerning financial accounts of UK tax residents will be passed to HMRC automatically each year, will significantly enhance the ability of HMRC to tackle offshore evasion.   ‎Monitoring of implementation of the global standard of automatic tax information exchange will be undertaken in due course by the Global Forum as requested by G20 Finance Ministers. Written assessments of the extent to which Global Forum members meet the existing standard of tax information exchange on request are publically available on the Global Forum’s website.

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Museums and Galleries

The Earl of Clancarty: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the national museums and galleries in the United Kingdom (1) how many staff are employed, and (2) how many of those are now employed through private contractors.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The DCMS is responsible for 13 National sponsored Museums and Galleries in England; other National Museums in the UK are the responsibility of the devolved administrations, and other departments. The Museums that DCMS does sponsor operate at arm’s length from the department, and as such are responsible for their own staffing arrangements. We do not hold the data for staff employed through private contracts, and it would incur disproportionate cost to find out. We do hold details of the museums in house employees in the Public Bodies 2014 publication (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-bodies-2014). As of 31 March 2014 the number of Full Time Equivalent employees was: MuseumNumber of Staff(Full-Time Equivalent)British Museum1033Imperial War Museum572National Gallery407National Museums Liverpool521National Portrait Gallery247Natural History Museum822Royal Armouries145Royal Museums Greenwich478Science Museum Group833Sir John Soane’s Museum44Tate1228Victoria and Albert Museum634Wallace Collection94

Museums and Galleries

The Earl of Clancarty: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which services within each of the national museums and galleries in the United Kingdom have been privatised; and for each of those services how many staff are employed.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The DCMS sponsored National Museums and Galleries operate at arm’s length from the department and as such the department does not hold this information and it would incur disproportionate cost to find out.

Department of Health

Bone Marrow Disorders

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 4 February (HL4499), where the four trials for systemic amyloidosis and 41 trials for multiple myeloma which are currently in progress are being hosted.

Earl Howe: The sponsors of the trials have included the following information in the European Union clinical trials register concerning the sites involved in the studies. 1. Systemic amyloidosis   InstitutionTown/CityManchester Royal InfirmaryManchesterNational Amyloidosis CentreLondonOxford University Hospitals NHS TrustOxfordRoyal Free London NHS Foundation TrustLondonUniversity College London Medical SchoolLondonUniversity Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation TrustBirmingham 2. Multiple myeloma   InstitutionTown/CityAberdeen Royal InfirmaryAberdeenTameside Hospital NHS Foundation TrustAshton-under-LyneBetsi Cadwaladr University Health BoardBangorGwynedd HospitalBangor - GwyneddBarnet And Chase Farm Hospitals NHS TrustBarnetNorth Hampshire District HospitalBasingstokeRoyal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation TrustBathBelfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast City HospitalBelfastBirmingham Heartlands Hospital, Heart of England NHS Foundation TrustBirminghamUniversity Hospitals Birmingham, NHS Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth HospitalBirminghamBlackpool Victoria Hospital NHS TrustBlackpoolRoyal Bournemouth HospitalBournemouthBradford Institute of Health ResearchBradfordBradford Royal InfirmaryBradfordRoyal Sussex County HospitalBrightonBristol Haematology and Oncology CentreBristolSouthmead HospitalBristolUniversity Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation TrustBristolBurnley General HospitalBurnley, LancashireBurton Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustBurtonCambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Addenbrooke's HospitalCambridgeKent and Canterbury HospitalCanterburyEast Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation TrustCanterbury KentCardiff and Vale University Health BoardCardiffCardiff University School of MedicineCardiffUniversity Hospital of WalesCardiffEpsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS TrustCarshaltonAshford and St Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustChertseyCountess of Chester HospitalChesterChesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation TrustChesterfieldNorth Tees And Hartlepool NHS Foundation TrustClevelandColchester Hospital University Foundation TrustColchesterHull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS TrustCottinghamWalsgrave HospitalCoventryMid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustCreweDartford and Gravesham NHS TrustDartfordRoyal Derby HospitalDerbyDorset County Hospital Foundation TrustDorchesterNHS TaysideDundeeNinewells HospitalDundeeLothian NHS Health BoardEdinburghWestern General HospitalEdinburghRoyal Devon and Exeter HospitalExeterFrimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation TrustFrimleyMedway NHS Foundation TrustGillinghamBeatson West of Scotland Cancer CentreGlasgowGartnavel General HospitalGlasgowGlasgow Royal InfirmaryGlasgowRoyal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation TrustGuildfordRoyal Free HospitalHampstead, LondonPrincess Alexandra HospitalHarlowHarrogate and District NHS Foundation TrustHarrogateNorthwest London Hospitals NHS TrustHarrowNorthwick Park HospitalHarrowThe Oxford Radcliffe HospitalHeadingtonThe Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNewcastle-Upon-Tyne Tyne and WearRaigmore HospitalInvernessWest Middlesex University Hospital NHS TrustIsleworthMaidstone HospitalKentSouth London Healthcare TrustKentThe Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation TrustKing's LynnClinical Trials Research Unit, University of LeedsLeedsLeeds Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustLeedsSt James University Hospital NHS TrustLeedsLeicester Royal InfirmaryLeicesterUniversity Hospitals Of Leicester NHS TrustLeicesterWhipps Cross University Hospital NHS TrustLeytonstoneLincoln County HospitalLincolnRoyal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLiverpoolUniversity Hospital Aintree NHS TrustLiverpoolUniversity College London Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLondonSt George's Healthcare NHS TrustLondonBarts and the London School of Medicine and DentistryLondonBarts Health NHS TrustLondonCancer CentreLondonGuy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation TrustLondonHammersmith HospitalLondonImperial College Healthcare NHS trustLondonImperial College London Hammersmith HospitalLondonKings College Hospital NHS Foundation TrustLondonLewisham Healthcare NHS TrustLondonNorth Middlesex University Hospital NHS TrustLondonRoyal Free and University College Medical SchoolLondonRoyal Free London NHS Foundation TrustLondonSarah Cannon Research Institute UKLondonUCL Cancer InstituteLondonEast Cheshire NHS TrustMacclesfieldMaidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS TrustMaidstoneKent Oncology CentreMaidstone, KentManchester Royal InfirmaryManchesterThe Christie NHS Foundation TrustManchesterUniversity of South Manchester Hospital NHS TrustManchesterCentral Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustManchesterPrince Charles HospitalMerthyr TydfilFreeman HospitalNewcastleRoyal Victoria InfirmaryNewcastle upon TyneNorthampton General Hospital NHS TrustNorthamptonNottingham University Hospitals NHS TrustNottinghamRoyal Oldham HospitalOldhamChurchill HospitalOxfordOxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS TrustOxfordOxford University Hospitals NHS TrustOxfordshireDerriford HospitalPlymouthPlymouth Hospitals NHS TrustPlymouthPoole Hospital Foundation TrustPooleQueen Alexandra HospitalPortsmithSurrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS TrustRedhillGlan Clywd HospitalRhyl, North WalesBarking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS TrustRomfordScarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS TrustScarboroughRoyal Hallamshire HospitalSheffieldSheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSheffieldEaling Hospital NHS TrustSouthallSouthampton General HospitalSouthamptonUniversity Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation TrustSouthampton, HampshireLister HospitalStevenageThe Royal Marsden NHS Foundation TrustSutton, SurreyAbertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health BoardSwanseaSingleton HospitalSwanseaGreat Western Hospitals NHS TrustSwindonTaunton and Somerset HospitalTauntonSouth Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation TrustTorquayTorbay District HospitalTorquayThe Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation TrustUxbridgeSandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS TrustWest BromwichPinderfields General HospitalWest YorkshireNorth Bristol NHS Trust, Southmead HospitalWestbury-on-Trym / BristolNew Cross HospitalWolverhamptonThe Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS TrustWolverhamptonLewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust ( Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich)WoolwichBuckinghamshire Healthcare NHS TrustWycombe